Perry Jackson and The Lightning Thief
by TheSeasChild
Summary: This is pretty much my idea of what Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief would be like, if Percy was a girl. I've not written the story just like Rick Riordan did so there will be differences to the book. Female Percy and Male Annabeth. DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE PERCY JACKSON SERIES - RICK RIORDAN DOES!
1. Prologue

Prologue:

My name is Perry Jackson and I am 12 years old. Oh, did I mention I'm a half-blood?

What's a half-blood? Oh I'll tell you. Have you ever heard of any Greek myths about the Gods falling in love with mortal and having children with them?

Well I'm one of those children. And yes, the Greek gods are still around and ruling to this very day, right here in America.

Look, can I just state I didn't want this to happen to me. It's not my fault that my mom fell in love with Posiedon, god of the sea.

Anyway, back on track.

My name is Perry Jackson, and I'm 12 years old, and this is my story.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

I kinda, accidentally, on purpose, kill my sports teacher

"Perry Jackson, are you even trying!" Mrs Cane screams at me from across the sports field.

I clutch my side, still doubled over with cramps.

"Kinda dying here." I mutter/groan under my breath.

"I heard that." Mrs Cane whispers, suddenly leaning next to me.

I jump back, momentarily forgetting my cramps. "Woah! What the – you were just – GAH!"

Maybe it's just my ADHD, but I swear she was just over there a second ago.

"_Jackson! _Get yourself together! Tomorrow is the big race!" She raises her arm as if to slap me, but she must have thought the better of it, because she lowers it again.

"That I'm being forced into competing!"

"Not my problem!" She hisses, spraying spit over my face.

I push her away, and wipe my face clean of her spittle. "Gross!" I groan.

Mrs Cane grunts and stalks around the perimeter of the field – reminding me scarily of a lion hunting it's prey.

Suddenly, something with the force of a tractor, bashes into me from behind, knocking all the air from my lungs.

"Woah." I say, pushing the body up off me. "Nice to see you too, Clover."

"Sorry 'bout that." She grins, her southern accent clear. She stands up and hold out a hand, her grin widening.

I focus in on her bright freckles on the bridge of her nose as she pulls me up and shakes her reddish-brown ringlets.

"Thanks." I grunt wiping my hands on my gym shorts. "What are you even doing here? You don't do gym."

"Got bored I guess. Anyway, come with me, my Latin class be visitin' the museum. Wanna come?"

"Uh, why not, I need to get away from this hell-hole."

Suddenly Clover zones in on Mrs Cane, and her pale face turns even paler.

"We gots to go!" She says urgently, tugging at my arm.

"I gots to get dressed!" I say, mimicking her tones.

"Perry, this ain't no time to be foolin' wit' me. We _gots to go!"_

I let her drag me off of the sports field, but I notice how Mrs Cane lets her glare follow us – mainly me.

As soon as I finish getting dressed we head straight to Clover's Latin teacher's office. She gulps and knocks on the door tentatively.

"Come in Clover." A husky male voice calls.

"Chi- Mr Brown." She says with a slight nod and a curtsy.

His eyes stick to me as we slink into his office and sit into the chairs opposite him.

"Well this must be an important issue, if you're visiting me during the middle of your classes." Mr Brown says, giving Clover a panicked look.

She nods once more, and his face drains of colour, just as Clover's had not long before.

"Welcome Perry," He starts, addressing me, "we haven't met before – well not officially – but I'm Mr Brown, Nancy Academy's Latin teacher. I have been tutoring Clover for that past few months, and I was going to contact you today, because your mother I believe has asked me to tutor you as well."

"My mom?"  
"Yes, your mother."

"But... I haven't seen my mom for 5 years," I gasp, "how did she know I was here?!"

"I don't know Perry, but she's contacted me to tutor you, so I have to do it."

I sit there, dumbfounded, as Clover and Mr Brown continue to have a silent conversation.

"Kindly ones!" Clover shouts finally, making me fall off of my chair.

"Shhh!" Mr Brown hisses, discretely pointing at me.

"Sorry." She whimpers, cringing away from Mr Brown.

Suddenly Mrs Cane bursts into the room.

"I thought I'd find you here, Dearie." She says, a grim smile etched across her face.

She stalks across to me and drags me off of the floor by my legs.

"Woah dude!" I snap, my voice on octave higher than usual and shaking.

What the _Hell _was she doing!

I tried to bat her hands away from my leg, but every time I'd hit her, her grasp would tighten.

"There's no need to be like that honey."

I take a deep breath, and send my hand flying towards the inside of her elbow. Her hands let go of me, and I scramble to me feet, my back towards her. From behind me, I hear a ripping sound and I turn around quickly to watch in horror as Mrs Cane morphs into an unearthly creature, with leathery wings, sharp fangs and _huge _claws on each scaly hand.

"Give it to me." She hisses, her voice suddenly deeper than a man's.

"What!? Give what to you!?"

"I think you know Perry Jackson." She says, and her voice rumbles.

I fall back to the ground as the floor below me rattles and shatters. I scramble backwards, away from the gaping hole that's starting to appear.

Mrs Cane – I think – flies over the hole and pins me up agaisnt the wall with her claws around my neck.

"Perry Jackson, return what you have stolen and your death will be much less painful."

Suddenly it hits me. By why would she want to kill me for stealing such a tiny thing.

"Look, I'm sorry about stealing that pencil in english. I just really needed a writing utensil!"

"Insolent child!" She growls, and she moves her head towards my neck and she opens her mouth.

I do the only thing that comes to mind – even if it means me falling 10 foot to the ground. I kick her in her abdomen. She yelps in pain, and just as I planned, she drops me, and I hit the ground with a loud thump.

"Perry!" I familiar voice screams. I quickly scramble up to my feet and find Mr Brown wheeling himself towards me in his wheelchair.

"Catch!" He yells, over the still rumbling corridor, and he throws me a simple blue, plastic, ball point pen.

"This is a pen!" I screech.

"I know!" He yells, and he turns around and wheels himself away speedily.

_Great_. I know I said that I needed writing utensils, but he could've given it to me after someone tried to kill me.

Suddenly the hand with the pen in grows heavy, and I look down and gasp.

_It's a sword!_

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God." I mutter.

I quickly admire the beauty of the sword – it's a faint silvery blue on the meter long blade, a deep blue, carved sapphire for the hilt, encrusted with even more gems, and the blade is engraved with sketches of waves that seem to be glowing as I hold it.

Suddenly Mrs Cane propels herself towards me, and I do – once again – the only thing that comes to mind.

I swing the sword. And as soon as it makes contact with her shoulder, she disintegrates into a fine yellow powder.

My eyes grow wide, as the sword in my hand shrinks back into a pen, and all the damage around me, corrects itself so it looks as good as new. Mr Brown wheels himself down the corridor and snatches the pen out of my hand.

"May I remind you that you need to bring your own writing equipment." He says, his face relaxed, but I notice how taut his upper body and neck is.

"Sorry." I mumble, my face growing red.

He wheels himself away from me and Clover appears behind me. She places a hand on my shoulder and mutters. "Great job kiddo, but we gots to get you outta here."

**A/N:**

**What did you think? I know it's short but please review - be honest, i accept all criticism, and i need reviews so i know how to improve my story :)**

**Thanks :)**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I battle an oversized cow

"Can you please tell me where we're going! We've been running for _half-an hour straight_!" I pant, my lungs burning.

Clover tugs on my arms again, and makes me speed up, which adds to the acidic feeling in my legs.

"We're nearly there! It's just over that hill!" She says, not even a hint of tiredness in her voice.

"DUDE! How on earth are you not dead! I feel like i've walked to hell and back!"

"I'm made for long distance running." She yelps and a bird narrowly misses her head.

"So why don't you do gym?!"

"Uh... leg problems!"

I shake my head and request that we take a break, and Clover reluctantly agrees. I sink down to the ground and take a deep breath.

"Five minutes. We're behind sced-" Clover gasps and starts sniffing the air. "No. No time for resting. We have got to run!" She grabs my arms and yanks me up so I'm forced to stand, and I notice that her accent's gone.

She starts running, and she drags my right behind her. As we run, Clover looks over her shoulder every 30 seconds until she gasps so fast, I'm surprised that it didn't hurt. She stops in her tracks and pushes me in front of her and tells me to run straight ahead and not to stop.

"What are you talking about!" I yell, and I follow her gaze. "Oh. _That._"

From down the road, I spot a giant cow-like _man _half-walking, half-full our sprinting towards us, and Clover pushes me again.

"GO!" She yells, and she points to the pine tree at the top of the hill.

"No!"

"You're crazy! This thing's hunting you, so if you go he wont have anything to do with me!" She says, her voice suddenly quiet – just like she does when she's hiding something from me.

"Clover. You are a _terrible _liar!"

"Fine! Stay still, and when it comes close, leap to the side. Its the only way you'll survive."

I grab her arm, and we start running towards the pin tree and suddenly I hear the bull-man right behind us. I push Clover out the way just as he lowers his head and charges at me. She hits her head on the ground, but she just pushes herself back up.

I stare at the bull, and finally when it gets to close I forward roll under his legs.

God he stinks.

I push myself up just as he turns around, and for the first time, I get a good look at him.

From the waist down, his huge legs are covered in matted black fur, and his feet are huge hooves. His chest is bare – and grossly, he looks like he's been going to the gym – and his arms are just as big as his legs. And instead of having a massive _human _head to match his body, he has a giant bulls head, complete with massive pointy horns.

From my side, I hear Clover whimper as the monster – I think it's called a... Minotaur. Yeah that's it. A Minotaur. Anyway, the Minotaur takes another step towards me, and me, being defenceless, I do the right thing.

I attack.

Well sorta.

I run towards the Pine Tree, and stand with my back planted firmly against it. The Minotaur runs straight at me, but instead of me rolling away from him or ducking, as soon as he gets close, I crouch down low and let him get his horns stuck deep into the tree. As he struggles to get himself free, I crawl away from him, and climb onto his back – smart right? He yanks his head free of the Pine, leaving one of his horns still impaled into it, and he starts to buck.

I hold on tightly to his neck and he continuously flicks his head around, so roughly that it feels like my teeth are either gonna get crushed into my skull or they're all gonna fall out. I clench my teeth and swing myself off of him, landing on my feet, and I run straight back over to the tree. I tug agaisnt the Minotaur horn, until it frees itself from the tree, and I turn around, brandishing the horn like that sword that Mr Brown gave me.

I yelp in pain, as I jump out the way of the Minotaur, landing painfully on my arm.

Damn, I think it's broken.

I breathe through my teeth and stand up shakily, and yell at the Minotaur, as it towers over Clover.

"OI! Uh... beef brain! Come here!"

Smooth Perry, smooth.

The beast turns around, his nostrils flaring, and he charges straight at me. I hold out the horn – point facing the Minotaur – and suddenly I find myself being thrown backwards.

He growls in pain as he stares down at his ribcage, right where he ran into the horn. Suddenly he freezes, and just like Mrs Cane, he dissolves into a fine yellow powder, leaving the horn to clatter on the ground.

I stand there panting, and Clover runs over to me.

"Perry!" She yells, but her voice sounds far away, even though she's right next to me.

"Perry, c'mon!" She yells again, and her voice sounds even further away as it echoes in my head.

She shakes my shoulders, sending streaks of pain running through me and I crumple into her arms.

"Perry!" She whispers, but her mouth opens so wide, I think she might be screaming. I stare at her for a couple more seconds until I black out.

**Sorry, i know that chapter's not very good. I'm not very good at writing stuff about Minotaur fighting (as I've just found out), but feel free to criticise.**

**Please review - it will help me improve my writing :)**

**Thanks :)**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I play capture the flag with a bunch of murderous kids

I wake up sat in a blue and white stripy deck chair – the kind you see at the beach – over looking a summer camp. I groan, expecting to feel pain, but when I look at my arm, I find that it looks perfectly normal – and that it doesn't hurt. I could've sworn I'd broken it. I take it my surroundings when Clover comes bounding over to me.

"_Perry_! Oh thank the gods!" She gasps, hugging me.

"Where am I?" I sigh.

"Camp Half-Blood."

"What?" I say, my mind still somewhere else entirely.

"You're at Camp Half-Blood. The only safe place for your kind."

She lets go of me and she takes a step backwards, and when I get a glimpse of her legs, I scream. Where her trousers should be, a carpet of reddish-brown fur - that matches her hair colour actually – wraps her legs like a blanket.

"Perry, what's wrong? Are you still hurt!?" She shouts, panicked.

"You legs! They're- they're-"

"Oh. I guess I forgot to tell you."

"Tell me what!? That you're half donkey!" I shout, my voice raw from that quick burst of screaming.

Her mouth opens in shock and pure rage engulfs her eyes. " Goat. Half goat. Get your facts right!" She throws down the Minotaur horn onto my lap. "Here you go." She spits out.

"Sorry... but how did you forget to tell me that your half..."

"Goat?"

"Goat." I say, nodding my head.

"Dunno. But are you okay? I mean Andrew looked after you the 3 days you were out of it."

"_Three days_?!" I yell.

"Yeah. But he did do a good job right? He didn't give you to much nectar, did he?"

"Who?"

"Andrew."

Suddenly, my mind fills up with images of a tan boy about my age, with short blond curly hair and stormy gray eyes, which ruined the whole Californian guy look, who I remember seeing every time I came into consciousness. I remember him muttering angrily the whole time.

"He seems to have done fine. Anyway, what's nectar? Isn't that the card thingy?"

"No. Have you ever heard of Ambrosia and Nectar, the food of the gods?"

"Nope."

Suddenly a boy walks out of the large farmhouse behind me, carrying a cup with a straw and placing it on the table next to me. Andrew.

"Uh. Thanks." I say to him.

"Wipe your mouth. You drool when you sleep." He says.

I instantly raise my hand and drag it across my face and he smiles and walks over to the Camp area.

"So _that's _the guy who looked after me, huh?"

"Yep. That's Andrew. Son of Athena."

"Wait. Athena?" The name rings a bell. She's probably just a famous singer from the 80's or something.

"Yeah. Goddess of wisdom and battle." Clover says, her face serious.

"Yeah. And I'm a daughter of Jesus Christ."

"I'm being serious, Perry."

"And so am I." I say, and I crack up laughing.

Seriously? A child of a thousand year old goddess? This _has _to be a joke!

"_Perry_!" Clover growls.

"What? You're not serious are you? There are no gods."

Suddenly thunder rumbled over head. Clover's eyes widened.

"Perry Jackson, don't _ever _say that again! If you do, you might not be as lucky."

"Lucky at what?"

"You're just lucky you're alive. How do you think your dad feels?"

"Why are you bringing my father into this? He died when I was a baby!"

"That's what your mom told you, wasn't it?"

"You're thinking that she's lying!"

"She is. Your dad is still alive, Perry."

"Really? Then why haven't I _seen_ him!?" I hiss, getting in Clovers face.

"Huh? Tell me that, Goat Girl."

"_What _did you just call me?" She snaps.

"Goat Girl."

"After all I've done for you Perry Jackson." She says. She trots off in the same direction where that Andrew boy went, without even a backwards glance.

Immediately, I feel awful. I just seriously upset my best friend. What is wrong with me? I reach for the glass on the table next to me, and take a sip, and I instantly recoil at the taste.

It tastes like – like – like the blue cookies my mom used to cook for me before I left. It tastes like the cookies have just came out of the oven. I gulp down the drink, not even bothering to use the straw, and as soon as I'm done I hear a trotting sound behind me.

"Why hello Perry. I see you've finally woken up." A familiar voice says.

I turn around and find myself looking up and a 2 meter tall Mr Brown.

"Mr Brown?!"

"Yes Penny?"

"What are you doing here?" I ask, and I nearly fall out of my chair as I get a look at the lower half of his body.

"I'm the camp activities leader." He says, his voice strong.

The lower half of his body skitters against the ground, flicking his tail.

"You're... half horse. Is there anything normal here?" I says, pointing at where his legs should be.

"I'm a Centaur, child."

"Yeah. So what is this place?"

"A camp for Half-Bloods."

"And what are they?" I say, the boredom creeping back into my voice.

"Half mortal, half Greek god."

"Greek god?"

"Yes child. The Greek gods."

"So who's my dad?" I ask, my curiosity taking over me.

"That is unknown, Ms Jackson. But I am sure we'll find out soon. Would you like a tour of the camp?"

"Why not."

I push myself out of the deck chair and run after Mr Brown. After he shows me the training arena, the mess hall, the lava wall and the armoury, he slows down to a slow trot when we get to where all the Cabins are placed. There are 12 in all, and all of the are in lines, parallel to each other.

"These are the cabins." Mr Brown says, "Until we find out who your godly parent is, you will be placed in cabin 11 – Hermes."

He leads me to an old, worn cabin at the end of one side of the lines. Its a plain old wooden cabin with a Caduceus placed on the door. He walks up the stairs and opens the door for me.

When I look inside the Cabin, I gasp. There's _way _to many people in one small (ish) room. When they see Mr Brown behind me, the all stand and bow for him, and he just smiles.

What's that about?!

"Hey, I'm Lucy." A tall blonde girl says "Daughter of Hermes, head of Cabin 11 and camp counsellor – not necessarily in that order though."

She holds out her hand and I take it, but when I grab her hand, a jolt of electricity zaps my hand.

"Crud. Hermes. God of roads and pranksters – right?" I say wincing, holding my hand.

"God of roads, thieves, athletes, tradesmen, invention and trade, and yes, pranksters." She laughs, her blue eyes lighting up.

She looks at Mr Brown and, with her smile still on her face, she asks: "Determined/Undetermined?"

"Undetermined."

The rest of the cabin groans.

"Nice to see you guys too." I mutter.

"Hey don't worry about it. I'm sure if the gods can pull their fingers out," A couple of stifled laughs from the group "you'll get claimed soon enough. Hopefully." She says, her smile dropping when she talked about the gods.

"Thank you Lucy, I can trust that you'll make Perry feel at home." Mr Brown asks from the doorway.

"Of course Chiron, why wouldn't I? Us demigods gotta stick together."

He nods his head and walks away towards the archery range.

"Time for proper introductions." Lucy grins. "Oh yeah, did I mention, I'm not gonna show you around. _I'm_ gonna go get you some stuff."

Lucy grabs my arms and drags me towards the pier by the lake.

"Andrew!" She calls, and the blonde haired boy looks up.

Not him again.

A grin spreads across Andrew's face as we approach – and I'm pretty sure it's not because of me.

"Hey Luc." He says, embracing her.

"Do you mind showing around the newbie?" She says as she pulls away.

"Sure anyth- oh. _Her._" He says glaring at me.

This kids got a cheek! What have I ever done to him.

"And what _exactly _is wrong with me." I say storming over to him. I stand on my tiptoes so I get eye level with him – sorta. "Huh?"

He pushes me away and groans. "Calm kid. You haven't done anything."

"Then why do you hate me so much? I don't even know you and – bam. Suddenly you hate me!" I say, clapping my hands together every so often for emphasis.

"There's just something about you. Oh and maybe because you drool in your sleep."

"Shut up!" I yell, and my face goes bright red, which causes him to crease up laughing.

"Anyway -" Lucy smiles. "Thanks Andy, I knew I could count on you."

As she walks away, Andrew slowly stops laughing and he stares at her.

"You like her don't you?" I laugh.

This time, it's him who goes red.

"What! Don't be ridiculous! How could you even-"

"Save me the chatter. I wont tell her."

He glares at me and turns around. "C'mon then."

"What?"

"We've got an hour before capture the flag, so we better get on with this tour."

We walk around the same route that Mr Brown took me on, but I decide not to say anything. Finally we stop outside the Ares Cabin.

"And this cabin, is full of violent brats." Andrew says, and he gestures behind him.

As we're about to go on to the next cabin, a huge, muscular boy – who reminded me strangely of the Minotaur – steps out of the Cabin.

"Oi Andrew, get out of my way." he roars

"I'm not in your way Charles." He sighs.

Charles grunts and lays his eyes on me. "Who we got here then?"

I straiten my back and raise my head. "Perry Jackson. Who would rather be... um..."

"Um what, Jackson."

"None of your business."  
"It is now!" He grunts and he flings himself at me and picks me up by the collar of my shirt.

He lifts me up about 2 feet off the ground, whilst I thrash and kick against his grasp.

"Charles, _put her down_!" Andrew sighs.

"She needs to go through initiation. Oh and she needs to learn a lesson."

"What for!"

Charles doesn't answer and he starts striding towards the toilet block, and whilst I continue to fight him, only one thought forms: oh god.

"Let go of me!" I scream.

Behind me, Andrew groans and follows us into the boys toilets.

Suddenly, Charles lets go of my collar, and I fall to the cold tiles beneath me. I push myself up so that I'm able to stand, and he pushes me into a cubicle and he forces me into a crouching position, my head over the bowl.

"Charles-" I hear Andrew begin.

"Shut up, Athena."

As Charles continues to push my head into the bowl, an awful smell creeps into my nose, a smell which only happens in a toilet – the smell of disinfectant and, well, what goes into toilets. I let out a gasp, and my gut starts to feel like it's being twisted. All around, the sound of rusty metal shuddering fills the room, and suddenly a forceful jet of water arcs over my head and douses everything in the room. I feel Charles grip on my back go and I turn around to see him flung agaisnt the wall, the water trying to push him even further.

I shakily stand up and look around me, and find that where ever I walk, a ring of dryness surrounds me so I don't get wet, and that even Andrew got a soaking.

"I'm gonna kill you Jackson!" Charles gargles.

"Try it, and you'll be gargling with toilet water again." I say with a smirk. Not smart Perry.

Charles gives me one last evil glare and I step out of the toilets, closely followed by Andrew.

I turn around to face him.

"Sorry. I don't know how that happened." I say, but Andrew doesn't meet my eyes and he just shrugs.

We walk in silence until we get to the mess hall, and Andrew still carries on wringing out his orange camp t-shirt.

Hey! Why don't I have one of those?!

"Um Andrew..." I begin.

"What?" He sighs.

"Um... why doesn't the mess hall have a roof?"

"I uh... don't actually know. It's probably just to replicate ancient Greece, But just look at that architecture! "

"Is your mother really Athena."

"Yeah. Why? Who told you?"

"Clover."

He sighs and sits with the rest of the Athena kids, and Lucy calls over to me.

"Hey, Perry, over here!"

I smile and saunter over to her and sit next to her. "Thanks."

"You're with the Hermes crew kiddo, there's no way you're gonna sit anywhere else. I mean, I can almost _see _the Hermes blood coursing through your veins." Lucy laughs.

"Uh... gross?" I groan.

"I know. That's what they said to me on my first day." She says, and her smile drops. "I guess they were right."

"I get the feeling that you don't like your dad. Have you ever met him?"

"Yeah. Once." She says, and by the tone of her voice, I'm guessing that that issue is closed. "He's a jerk."

I sit there awkwardly until Mr Brown – I uh mean Chiron, I think they called him – walks into the middle of the pavilion.

"Welcome campers!" His voice booms. "It's time for the weekly Capture the Flag!"

Suddenly all of the campers burst into cheering, and Lucy nudges me.

"C'mon, at least _act _like you're having fun." She laughs.

I flash my widest-cheesiest grin at her, and she rolls her eyes. "A bit overkill. Don't cha think?"

I stick my tongue out at her, and her grin returns.

"Lets go!" Chiron yells and we all jump out of out seats and run towards the woods – even me.

"What are we doing!" I yell at Lucy.

"Getting to the starting positions!" She yells back.

Oh. I hate running.

Finally we slow to a stop and Andrew paces in front of us.

"Okay. So we've got Hermes, Apollo, and of course Athena." He yells above us all.

We all cheer, and we go to get suited up. Lucy throws me a a breast plate – which I drop, a helmet – which I drop, a shield – which I drop (no surprise there) and a heavy bronze sword, which I somehow manage to – you guessed it – drop.

"Someone remind me to never throw Perry anything, _ever _again!" Lucy calls.

"Never throw Perry anything!" The Hermes cabin shouts.

"Thanks." I mutter.

"Perry. We're _kidding!_ Smile a little, It could do you good!" Lucy says, nudging me with her elbow. "C'mon."

We all – that's Athena, Hermes and Apollo – take off running deeper into the woods until we reach a medium sized creek. As we slow to a standstill on one side, the other Cabins stand scarily on the other.

"Campers. You know the rules: No maiming or killing, the creek is the boundary line, all magic items are allowed, the flags must be prominently displayed with no more than 2 guards, prisoners may be disarmed, but not bound or gagged, guards aren't allowed to stand within 10 yards of the flag and all the forest is fair game. I'll be serving as referee and battle field medic so – GO!" Chiron bellows.

As everyone around me charges, I freeze in terror – these kids are homicidal maniacs! Suddenly Lucy tugs at my shoulder.

"C'mon, you're on wing defence!" She yells over the battling teenagers.

"Sure! Anything to get away from them!" I scream and run after her.

We dodge other campers as we make our way along the creek.

"Stay here. _Don't _let _anyone _pass. Okay? Oh and, don't let Charles touch you with his spear." Lucy whispers, and when I nod, she turns on her heel and sprints back the way we came.

I stand at my position for what feels like hours, when suddenly, from behind me, a gruff voice says:

"Jackson."

I turn around slowly, and my insides twist – just not how they did earlier on. I feel my mouth gape open, but I quickly close it.

"Hello _Charlie_, you come to gargle with more toilet water have you?" I say, gulping. Seriously Perry, _shut up_!

Charles face starts to boil and he stomps towards me. I lift my heavy shield just as he lunges at me, his golden spear piercing it. My arm, holding the shield, tingles and goes numb and I drop the shield, and suddenly I get it. The stupid spear. It's electric!

He pulls his spear out of my shield, and I scramble away from him, my sword drawn when one of his siblings emerges from the bushes behind me. I turn around to face him, and 3 more Ares kids walk out of the bushes, their weapons drawn. I mutter under my breath and suddenly one of Charles brothers swings his sword, and it slices my right arm. I squeak in pain and I look at where the sword hit. It's not to deep.

"Chiron said no maiming allowed!" I whine like a four year old.

"Oops. I guess I just lost my dessert for a week." The boy grins, and he lashes out again, but this time I duck his sword but dropping to the ground.

He goes to swing again, as I'm lain on the floor, but Charles stops him.

"Leave her alone. This is my battle." He says, a grim smile set on his face.

I scramble backwards like a overgrown bug, until my hand breaks the surface of the creek. I feel a faint sensation creeping up my arm, but I ignore it and I stand up. Charles shoves me over so I land completely into the lake, and he plunges down his spear but I roll away before it can hit me. He continues to try to strike me, but I somehow continue to dodge his electric spear, and I reach for my sword. I jump up and swing my sword, not aiming for anything in particular, but somehow the flat of my blade hits Charles hip so hard that he crumples to the floor. I gasp and stare at the blade in my hands, and suddenly the other 4 Ares kids come charging towards me.

I can't remember what happened completely, but I remember hitting one of the kids with my sword hilt so hard that he was knocked out and I remember using the same attack I used on Charles on another Ares kid, when Charles stood up.

He charged towards me, his spear pointed straight at me, and I don't know how I did it, but before he got to close, I grabbed my ruined shield and, using my sword, I trapped his spear and snapped it.

He stares at his shattered spear and points the jagged edge at me. "You are going to pay, Jackson!" He hisses.

He stalks away into the forest, and his – all now fully conscious – 4 siblings trail after him.

I let out a sigh of relief, and suddenly the air next to me shimmers.

"Well done." Andrew says, holding a navy blue Yankees baseball cap in his hand.

Rage suddenly fills me and not because he was spying on me by being invisible, but by the fact that he was probably just stood there watching whilst I got my but kicked.

"Why you little- you – they – THEY COULD'VE KILLED ME!" I yell.

"Highly unlikely." Andrew says, then his gaze falls on my shoulder where one of Charles siblings sliced me. "What happened?"

"Ugh, it's just a cut." I say turning my head to look at it.

"Used to be a cut!" Andrew says, his eyes wide.

Finally I spot what he's looking at and I gasp. He's right. Where my cut should've been a slightly pink scar sits in it's place.

Andrew starts muttering under his breath furiously.

"Perry, step out of the water."

I raise an eyebrow at him.

"Just do it." He urges.

I shake my head and take a step out of the creek, and as soon as I do, all the energy drains from me and I collapse into his arms.

"Oh gods. This is _not _good. I assumed it would be Zeus." He mutters again, pushing me up.

I groan and slowly stand myself up. "Sorry about that."

Andrew doesn't even look at me, and suddenly Lucy leaps over the creek, holding a red flag. When she makes it onto the other side, all of our team materializes and starts to cheer ferociously. I look at the banner as it shimmers, and it's printing turns from the symbol of Ares – a bloody boars head on a red background, to Hermes' Caduceus on a silver background.

"Well done campers!" Chiron says, emerging from the bushes.

Suddenly I hear a loud roar, and I start to panic – it sounds really close – and as soon as everybody else hears it, they ready their weapons as a giant dog-like beast jumps out of the trees. It locks it's gaze on me and as it starts to pounce, Andrew steps in front of me, but I know it won't do anything, the beast will just jump over him – and I'm right. It flies over Andrew and lands on me, forcing me to the ground. I start to scream as it slashes its claws across my chest – leaving my armour in ribbons, and leaving shallow cuts all over. The Apollo campers and Chiron shoot the monster and it goes limp, and I push it off me.

"What _was_ that?!" I gasp as I push myself up to stand.

"A Hellhound. Someone inside the camp must've summoned it." Chiron says, his voice grave and his expression matching.

As the blood oozes out of my wounds, Andrew notices and he turns to me.

"Get in the water Perry." He urges, his voice serious.

"Why?"

"Just do it!" He nearly shouts.

As I step into the creek I hear Andrew tell Chiron to watch me, and I nearly sigh. I look at my chest as it heals over, and I hear a collective gasp from the camp.

I look around at the campers, to see many of them pointing to a spot above my head, and I look up to see what it is.

A flickering hologram of a green trident hovers over my head.

"It is determined" I hear Chiron say, and I instantly understand.

"My father?" I say, looking over to him.

"Poseidon, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. All hail Perry Jackson. Daughter of the Sea God."

**So what did you think? Please review - it'll only help me get better :)**

**Thanks :)**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I'm accused of Grand Theft Zappo

That night, everyone around me sank down onto one knee and looked down to the ground – even Charles who didn't look to happy about it. Lucy's moment of glory was over and suddenly it was mine – sort of. That night, Chiron moved me to cabin 3 – Posiedon. It was a low grey stone building, decorated in coral, seashells and kelp and seaweed.

So now that I'm senior counsellor of my own cabin, I get to have my own room, I get to call lights out, I get to arrange the next days training and I get to decide what team I'm on for capture the flag – and I'm absolutely miserable.

I pick up the Minotaur horn on my bedside table and turn it through my hands. I continue to look at it for about half an hour, when I hear a faint knock on the door. With a sigh, I put the horn back on my table and I open the door.

"Hey." Clover says sadly.

I surge forward and grab her into a hug. "I'm sorry Goat Girl." I laugh.

She pushes herself back and glares at me – but I can tell she's joking.

"Girls." Andrew mutters under his breath. "Can we get this happy reunion over with yet, because Chiron and Mr. D want to see you Perry."

I look at Andrew. "Who's Mr. D?" I ask.

"The camp leader."

"_And _what does the 'D' stand for?"

"You'll find out."

Andrew starts to stroll towards the Big House, and Clover grabs my arm. "C'mon Perry."

As she turns away, I notice how pale her face is. And that her accent's gone.

Finally, we reach the Big House, where Chiron – in his wheelchair – and a short, tubby man with deep purple – almost black – hair, in a bright Leopard print Hawaiian style shirt are sat on the porch playing some sort of card game, with Andrew standing behind them.

"Well. Look who it is." The tubby one says. He turns around and looks at me, almost like he's sizing me up. "She's not exactly the though-est looking, is she? Or the tallest."

I guess he was sizing me up. I grunt at him, and his nostrils flare.

I flicker my fingers at Chiron, and he nods at me.

"Good morning Perry. Clover." He says, a faint smile creeping up on his face.

"Perry, eh? So that's her name." The tubby one says again.

"Perry Jackson, _actually. _And who are you exactly?" I ask.

"_Perry!" _Clover hisses, her face going even paler.

"Ha, leave her. I'm Mr. D." He says.

"And what does the 'D' stand for?"

"Figure it out." He snaps, dragging his attention back to his card game. He raises his hand, and grabs a golden goblet out of thin air. My eyes grow wide as I watch him gulp down what ever is inside the cup.

"I hope that wasn't wine?" Chiron says, giving Mr. D a pointed look. "Remember what your father said."

"Ugh. Don't remind me." Mr. D groans. "No wine and having to spend 100 years running this pathetic camp just because I liked a naiad!"

I lean slightly to Clover. "Who _is _he?"

"Dionysus." She says, whimpering.

"And who's he?"

"_He _can hear you." Mr. D snaps, turning his head to look at us. "And _he _is the god of madness, parties and festivals, and most importantly, wine."

I stare at him, my mind blank.

_A god!_

"Lets get down to business then." Mr. D growls, giving me one last evil glare.

"Perry, I'm just going to get straight to the point. You have been accused of stealing Zeus' master bolt. It has been missing for a week, and now your father has claimed you, Zeus believes that you are the lightning thief." Chiron says grimly.

"What!?" I shriek.

"It's true." Andrew says, smirking.

"Shut up." I tell him, and I turn to Chiron. "Is Zeus crazy or something -" suddenly a loud thunderclap rumbles through the sky "- a week ago I didn't know anything about Greek mythology, let alone me being a Demigod!"

"Hush child. There is only one way for you to prove your innocence. And that is to issue you a quest to find the bolt." Chiron says.

"That's not going to work." Dionysus grumbles.

Chiron ignores him and looks at me. "Do you accept the quest?"

"Um..."

I look over at Andrew, and see rage in his eyes.

"Sure, I guess."

"You will have a week to train, starting from today." Chiron says. "And you may bring 2 companions to assist you on your quest."

"Well. I know who they are. Clover and Andrew."

"Me?" Andrew says, dumbfounded.

"I've gotta have _someone _who has some experience!"

Andrew shrugs his shoulders and walks away.

"Perry, I suggest you leave now to train. Go straight to Lucy in the sword arena – and take this." Chiron says, and he throws me a pen.

I throw up my arm and catch it. "You and your pens." I say with a smile.

I tighten my grip around the blue ballpoint pen, and when it starts to grow heavy, I look down, and sure enough, it's morphed into that beautiful blue sword.

"Put it in your pocket, Perry." Chiron says.

Hesitantly, I slowly edge the hilt of the sword into my pocket, and as soon as it makes contact with the lining, it shrinks back into the pen,

"Just uncap the pen to use it." Chiron smiles. "The sword will always return to your pocket when you lose it."

"What?"

"Throw the pen."

I take the pen out of my pocket and I toss it as far as I can. I pat my pockets and suddenly a cylinder appears.

"Cool!"

"The sword is called Anaklusmos, or-"

"Riptide?" I interrupt. Where did that come from?  
"Yes. I see you're Greek is showing. Anyway, the sword has a long and tragic past from it's many previous owners. You should leave now and begin to train – remember you have only one week."

I nod my head and leave, walking through the cabins until I reach the sword arena, where Lucy slices off a dummies head and ducks, like the dummy was going to attack her. She wipes her brow and turns on her heel, and when she sees me, she smiles.

"Hey Perry!" She calls, and she waves to me. She hops over the arenas barriers and comes bounding over to me, and when she stands next to me, for the first time, I see a long and jagged scar running down her face. How did I _not _notice that?!

"You here for training?" She asks, interrupting my train of thoughts.

"Yep. I gotta week to become the best sword fighter I can." I groan. "This is gonna be impossible – I mean, I've never even wielded a sword before! Well not properly anyway!"

"Well you're lucky. Lucy's the sword trainer-person! And she's the best swordsman-" A kid from the Hermes cabin elbows another. "-swords-_woman _at camp!"

"Thanks Taylor!" Lucy shouts. She pushes her way through the crowd until she steps back into the arena.

I follow after her, and stand in the small crowd of campers.

"Okay. So that manoeuvre that I showed you before was the Kill 'N' Dodge – I came up with that name myself!" She shouts over the noise. "Whilst you guys learn _that _I'm gonna teach Perry the basics!"

She walks back over to me, dodging as the bunch of kids run onto the arena, swinging their swords like no-one's there.

"So, do you already have a blade?" She asks.

"Yeah, actually." I say, and I bring Riptide – in pen form – out of my pocket. She smirks and raises an eyebrow, as if to say, _cute, is the joke over yet?. _I click the pen, and it grows into the long silvery-blue blade. I grip the sapphire hilt tightly as Lucy's eyes widen – I've got to remember, that even if she's my friend, her dad's the god of thieves.

"Woah. Where'd you get _that _from?" She says, her grin returning to her face.

"Chiron. He gave it to me." I say, swinging the sword by my legs.

"Cool. Since you've got the blade, I guess we can get straight onto training."

She grabs my arm and pulls me into the centre of the arena and places a dummy in front of me. She teaches me so many types of manoeuvres and defence tactics, that by the time the session finishes my arms feel like they're about to drop off. Lucy places her sword into her scabbard and wipes her hands on her jeans. Suddenly she grabs her bead necklace – just like the one Andrew has – and closes her eyes.

"Are you okay?" I ask after a while.

She opens her eyes, and looks around, dazed. Finally she focuses on me. "Yeah I'm fine. Don't worry."

She pushes herself up and walks away, leaving me standing in the middle of the arena, looking like a fool. I move Riptide near my pocket, and it shrinks back down to pen size, and I slip it into my pocket, and I head down to the canoe lake.

When I finally get to the lake, a boy stands on the pier, reading a book.

"Hey Andrew!" I call out.

He turns around and waves me over to him.

"Have you had any lessons on reading Greek?" He asks when I get in earshot.

"Uh. No actually."

He sighs and hands me his book, and when I look on the front cover, its patterned with weird little symbols. Suddenly the symbols seem to move around on the page until they create some sort of word.

"Homer? You're reading Antigone?" I ask.

"Yeah. How did you know, you just said that you haven't had any Greek lessons?" He asks.

"I don't know."

"I take it you have dyslexia?"

"Uh yeah. Why?"

"Because your brain is hard-wired for ancient Greek. That's why you can read it so easily." He smiles.

"Cool?" I say, my tone making it sound like a question.

"Yeah. I guess it is. C'mon then, I guess I'm going to have to teach you the basics though."

He takes the book out of my hands and starts pointing to random paragraphs, and soon enough I'm able to stumble through a few pages without to much head ache. After he seems to think that I'm done for the day, I thank him and head back to my Cabin, forgetting what I really came to the lake to do. And as soon as my head hits my pillow, I fall asleep.

When I open my eyes in the morning, I nearly jump out of my skin, as Clover leans over me.

"Woah! How'd you even get in here!" I gasp, pushing her away.

She creases over with laughter and splutters out. "You need to lock your door at night! Anyway, it's time for breakfast."

She stands outside my cabin as I get dressed, and I find a orange camp t-shirt on my dresser and I smile – finally! I throw it on and run outside to join Clover. She nods at me and we walk over to the mess hall together, and when we get there she leads me over to an empty bench.

"Why can't I sit with Lucy or Andrew?" I moan.

"You have to sit with your cabin – and right now, it's only you." Clover says.

"Oh." I say, and I slowly lower myself into my seat.

Clover waves at me, and runs into the forest. I look into the bowl that suddenly appeared, and I say what I want to eat – just like everyone else is doing. Suddenly, everybody stands up and walks over to the fire and starts scraping in bits of their cereal, and I quickly join them. As I get closer in the lone to the fire, I hear the other campers whispering their godly parent, and when it's my turn, I do the same.

"Poseidon." I whisper, pouring a good amount of my blue Lucky Charms into the fire.

I walk back to my bench and dig in to what's left of my cereal.

After I finish my cereal, I stand up and walk to the arena for yet another day of training.

After a week of doing exactly the same schedule, Chiron walks me, Andrew and Clover to the Pine Tree at the top of Half Blood Hill, and Lucy runs to us just as we're about to leave.

"Here. Take this." She says panting, as she hands me a plain brown shoebox. I open and see a pair of red converse with a small pair of wings on each foot.

"They were a present from my dad, but I want you to have them. To get them to work, you have to say _maia._" Lucy groans, holding her side. She pats Clover on the shoulder, gives me a gentle hugs and gives Andrew a hug so tight, his whole body grows bright red – though that may be because of her toughing him.

"See you soon." She says, and she somehow manages to run back down the hill into camp.

Chiron gives us all a nod and I find myself remembering the Prophecy that the Oracle gave me earlier on today.

_You shall go west to find the god that has turned,_

_You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned,_

_You shall be betrayed by the one who calls you a friend,_

_And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end._

I shudder at the thought of the Oracle – an old, mummified woman with hippy clothes and jewellery, and how when she gave me the Prophecy, how she spewed bright green mist when she talked.

"Good luck, young Demigods." Chiron says, as me, Andrew and Clover pile into the Camp's van – disguised as a strawberry farm van – driven my the camp's guard, Argus.

As Argus starts up the van and drives away, I look out of the back window and I nearly cry at the sight of leaving my new home. I pass the shoe box to Clover who hangs onto it tightly and I turn around and face the front, and only one clear thought stays in my mind:  
It's time to prove I'm not the lightning thief.

**So what did you think? Please review so i can improve my writing (sorry for any spelling mistakes or problems) I accept all criticism :)**

**Thanks :)  
Have a cookie (::)**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I blow up a bus

Argus drops us off at a Manhattan bus terminal without a word. He throws us 2 backpacks and as he drives away in the van, I briefly notice all the eyes crowding his face when Andrew tugs on my shoulder and turns me around.

"C'mon. Chiron said that we've got to get on a coach to... oh where was it?" Andrew says, and he starts digging around in his backpack.

I grab mine from the pavement and peer into it. Inside I find: A change of clothes, a wad of cash, some golden coins, a silver flask and a air tight packet full of yellowish biscuit like things. I hold up the airtight bag. "What's this?" I ask Andrew.

"Ambrosia." He says, not even looking at me.

I start to feel thirsty so I grab the flask and unscrew the cap. I go to take a sip, but Andrew suddenly snatches out of my grasp.

"No. Only for when you get hurt!" He gasps, keeping the flask out of my reach.

"Why? Is it a bottle full of medicine or something?"

He sighs. "Nectar. Drink of the gods. In small quantities it heals demigods, but to much and it will burn you up – literally. It's the same with Ambrosia."

"Oh."

He lets me take the flask back, and I shove it into my bag. "Okay. So where is this bus to... well where ever we need to go?" I say.

Andrew scans the area and points at a random Grey Hound bus. "That one." He says, and he starts jogging towards it.

I shrug at Clover and I start running after him.

"C'mon!" He yells as the bus starts up it's engine.

I clasp my side and run harder. I've never been any good at running – I mean back at camp, all the wood nymphs leave me in the dust at foot racing, even in tree form.

Finally I get close enough to the bus and I jump through it's doors. Andrew shakes his head, grabs my hand and pulls me up. He holds out his arm to Clover just as she gets close.

"Phew." Clover says, though she's not panting.

We grab the seats at he back of the bus, and as we walk up the isle, I see a trio of old ladies. They sit nattering, but one catches my eye and my blood runs cold.

She looks like Mrs Cane.

Clover notices and she shoves me to the end seats. I shake my head and toss my backpack onto my lap.

Clover leans over to Andrew and whispers something in his ear. His eyes widen slightly but otherwise his expression stays the same. When shes done he nods, and suddenly one of the 3 old ladies exclaims:  
"I need to use the bathroom!"

"As do I!" The one the looks like Mrs Cane exclaims just as loudly.

"As do I!" The last old lady says.

They all get up and start walking to the back of the coach. Andrew suddenly leans over Clover and grabs my shoulder.

"Go."

I shake his hand off of me and glare at him. "What? No!"

"They only want you. If they can't find you then they'll leave me and Clover alone." He says and he suddenly reaches into his bag. He brings out his blue Yankees cap. "Take this."

He gives the cap to me and I slip it on. I sling my bag onto my back and I take off down the isle and slip under the old ladies arms, half expecting them to grab me when they saw me, but of course they don't. When I reach the front of the bus, I quickly turn around and see the ladies yelling at Clover and Andrew.

"Where is it!?"

"Where is she?!"

Clover and Andrew just shake their heads and try to duck under the ladies arms just as I did, but one grabs her whip and flicks it, sending Andrew and Clover scrambling back to their seats. I quickly lean over the driver and grab the wheel, trying to steer the bus, but the driver retaliates, a confused expression on his face. I tug on the wheel so hard, I send the bus into the next road lane, but I don't stop there, so as Andrew and Clover continue to try to get past the ladies, I yank back on the handbrake, and the bus hurtles towards a tree. I let the driver evacuate the bus before whip off the cap, sending my hair falling back in waves down past my shoulders.

"Hey!" I yell, and all the ladies stare at me.

I gulp as they run down the passage of the bus and with shaky hands, I bring out Riptide. I click the pen and it grows into my sword.

"Perry, go!" Clover yells, and she points to a half-open window in the ceiling.

I shake my head and 2 of the ladies grab my arms and the old woman holding the whip cracks it, narrowly missing me.

"Where is it!" She yells, and she flicks the whips again.

I yelp, and dive under the lady's arm as she brings the whip down, and I hits the floor right where I was standing. I swing Riptide, and it makes contact with one of the old ladies, making her dissolve into dust. The lady with the whip turns to me and slashes the whip at me, but I use my blade to deflect the hit, causing the whip to wrap around it. I yank the blade back, and the whip springs from her hands and clatters to the floor. The two remaining old ladies look at me, and point a finger at me. I expect them to say something, but instead they disappear with a flash, and I toss Andrew back his cap.

"Thanks." I say.

We all run out of the bus just as the air fills with static.

"What we're _they _because you can't tell me they we're just old ladies!" I yell at Andrew.

"Furies." He barks and pulls me and Clover into the bushes by the side of the road. Suddenly a giant lightning strike hits the bus and it shatters into millions of metal shards.

Amidst all the chaos, me, Andrew and Clover run into the bushes and continue running until we're all out of breath, but not before a tourist brings out her camera a snaps it at us.  
Finally we stop, and I clutch my side, and I see Clover doing the same. I look at Andrew, and i'm taken back by his expression. His face clouds over and turns a violent shade of red. "I _told_ you to go!" He yells all of a sudden.

I step backwards, my eyes wide. "What do you mean?" I whimper.

"You know exactly what I mean! Me and Clover had it all under control back there!"

"A perfectly good bag of tin cans..." Clover mumbles, trying to distract us.

Suddenly i'm filled with rage. "_What?!_ You've gotta be kidding _right_?"

"I'm NOT kidding! Do you realize, you're my only chance to go on a quest, and if you die, this quest is _over! _You shouldn't of put yourself in so much danger Perry!"  
"Well sorry for saving your life!" I yell, and I stamp towards him.

His face softens and he sinks to the ground. "You've been my only chance to go out into the outside world Perry," He begins. "The only way for a Demigod to test their abilities properly is to go on a quest in the real world – and to survive. I've always wanted to go on the quest since I was 7." His head sinks onto his knees, and by the tone of his voice, I find it safe not to answer.

Clover walks over to him, her face pained, and picks him up gently. She murmurs something and she starts towards a store situated right next to a garage – like one of those wacky places that sell garden gnomes and pink lawn flamingos - with me and Andrew closely behind her.

**And as usual: What did you think? Please review, and i'll post the next chapter soon enough.**

**Sorry for mistakes and if it doesn't follow the book completely - i'm having to write this without The Lightning Thief - so sorry. :(  
Anyway, please review and thanks :)**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

How to slay a Gorgon 101:  


"Hello?" I call, as we walk through a dusty room and into a maze of concrete statues. I take a deep breath, and the place smells suspiciously of fast food.

All around us, stone statues create little pathways. Clover walks over to a statue and admires it, stroking it every so often.

"Hey! That looks like my auntie Fiona!" She exclaims, shattering the silence.

Suddenly a woman wearing a long black gown that covered all of her body and head stepped out of the shadows. Her eyes glinted underneath the black gauze that covered them. I could see her coffee-brown hands poking out from her sleeves, and I couldn't help but think how old hey looked. And when she began to speak, I couldn't help but get the idea that she was from the middle-east.  
"Children, where are your parents, it's much to late for you to be out alone!" She says.

I look over my shoulder and notice how dark the sky is, and an electric shock shoots through my body. What time is it!?

"They're...um..." Andrew begins to say, but I cut him off.

"We're orphans!" I exclaim

"Orphans?" The lady says, clearly not believing any of it. "But my dears, surely not!"

"We got separated from our caravan." I say, "Our circus caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?"

"Oh my dears!" She exclaims. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."

We walk into another dark room and suddenly lights flicker on around us, and the room morphs. Now all the statues are lined up neatly in places, and we're standing near to a desk. We mumble thank you and she leads us into the back room behind the counter.

"Circus caravan?" Andrew muttered to me.

"Always have a plan, right?"

He sighs. "Your head is full of kelp."

I shrug my shoulders and look around at the new room. More statues line the floor, and none of them are the same. Some are people posing, some are people wearing fancy dress, some have different facial expressions, and some just look in-human. And all of them look life size.

Whilst we weaved our way through the maze of stone, I kept on thinking about you'd have to have a pretty bug garden to fit even just one of these statues, but mostly I thought about the food that I was promised. As we got closer, the smell of the burgers was almost intoxicating. As my mind lost track, I almost didn't noticed how Clover kept on whimpering, or how the statues eyes seemed to follow our every movement, or that Aunty Em had locked the door behind us. Finally we reached the snack bar at the back of the warehouse, which had a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater and a nacho cheese dispenser – pretty much everything a kid my age would dream of. Plus a few metal benches situated in front.

"Please, sit down." Aunty Em says, and she leads me over by the arm to one of the benches.

"Awesome." I say with a wide grin.

"Um," Clover began "Just to inform you, um, _ma'am, _we don't have any money?"

"No worries children. No money is needed. This is my gift to you, you little orphans." Aunty Em says, and I could tell she was grinning underneath her black veil.

"Thank you ma'am." Andrew says, and he nods his head.

Aunty Em stiffened like Andrew had done something horrible, but just as quickly had she done so, she relaxed again, and she looked into his eyes.

"It's quite alright Andrew. But my, don't you have such beautiful eyes. Such a shade of grey." She says, leaning forward.

She walked behind the snack bar and disappeared, and I could hear that she had begun to cook. Soon enough, Aunty Em reappeared with a platter full of burgers, milkshakes and `xxx large servings of French Fries.

I was halfway through my portion of fries when I remembered to breathe.

"Thanks again!" I muttered, spraying bits of food everywhere.

I saw how Andrew slurped his milkshake, not touching the food, and how Clover nibbled at fries delicately. Suddenly Clover's eyes widened and her back stiffened.

"Do you... do you hear that hissing noise?" She asked.

Me and Andrew both shook our heads, and Aunty Em laughs. "Hissing? You must be hearing the frier child. You have keen ears Clover."

Wait! How did she know Clover's name... and how did she know Andrew's?  
"I-uh-take vitamins for my ears!" She muttered, picking at her fries again.

"That's adorable, but please, _relax_." Aunty Em sighs.

Clover slowly stops eating the fries.

Aunty Em perched herself on the other side of the bench, and intertwined her fingers together. She watched us eat our food, and I started to think about how strange it was to have someone watch me when I couldn't even see their face. When I finally finished all my food, I began to feel sleepy, but out of pure politeness, I tried to make small talk with our hostess.

"So... you sell gnomes?" I say, trying to sound remotely like I cared.

"Oh yes!" Aunty Em says, sitting up straight, "Not just gnomes either. I sell animals and humans. Anything for the garden really. Custom orders. Statuary is very popular, you know?"  
I didn't know.

"Do you get good business on this road?"

"Not so much, I'm afraid. Since the highway was built, no cars really drive past here anymore. I do cherish every customer who arrives."

I suddenly felt like someone was staring at me, so I turned around, expecting to see Andrew to Clover watching me and Aunty Em talking, but instead I see a statue of a young girl clutching an Easter basket. I notice how incredibly detailed it was, and how life like it looked – better then most statues you'd see at any garden center. But something was creepy about it. Her expression looked scared, or startled, or even terrified.

Aunty Em watches me staring at the statue, and after a while she speaks.

"Not all of my statues turn out right. It's always the face. The face is the hardest to make."

"Wait!? You make these?" I ask, taken back.

"Of course. But not all sell. But once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me, but they have since passed on, and that leaves me, Aunty Em, alone. That is why I make the statues, they are my only companions." She says sadly, so sadly in fact, that I start to feel sorry for the old woman.

By this time, Andrew had stopped eating and he leaned forward onto his elbows. "Two sisters, you say?"

"It's a terrible story, really. Not one for young children. You see Andrew, an evil woman was jealous of me, long _long _ago, when I was young. I had a... a boyfriend too, but this woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident. My sisters stayed by me, but they suffered bad fortune and soon they passed on. They faded away. I alone survived, but at a price, a very high price indeed."

This makes me feel worse, and I resist the urge to hug Aunty Em. My eyelids seemed to grow heavier, and Andrew had to keep on shaking me to get my attention. "I think we should go now!"

He sounds panicked, but I'm not sure why. Clover started to eat the napkins on her plate, and Aunty Em leaned forward and looked once again into Andrew's eyes.

"Such beautiful eyes... my, yes it's been a while since i've seen eyes that grey..."

She reached out as if to caress Andrew's face but he leaped up from the table.

"We should go." He says, and he gulps.

"Yes!" Clover shouts, jumping up alongside Andrew, " The ringmaster is waiting!"

I sink lower into the bench. I don't wanna leave. I want to stay a bit longer with Aunty Em, she's so nice!  
"Please children, won't you at least stay for a photo? Won't you pose for me?" She pleads.

"You want us to pose?" Andrew says, eying her.

"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue. Children are so popular you see, everyone loves children."

Andrew starts to hop from foot to foot. "I don't think we can ma'am, the ringmaster wouldn't like it. C'mon Perry!"

He reaches over to me and grabs my arm, but I shake him off. "Sure we can!" I say, and I smile at Aunty Em. Why is Andrew being so rude? After all, it is only a picture, what harm can it do?

"It's just a picture Andrew, what harm is it going to do?"  
Andrew opens his mouth as if to say something, but he closes it again, his face pained.

"Yes, no harm!" Aunty Em says.

Andrew shakes his head, but he follows me as I walk with Aunty Em back out of the front door, into a garden of statues. Aunty Em showed us to a bench near the center of the garden, next to a stone Saytr. "Now..." She says, "Let me just position you correctly."

"How about the lovely lady with the black hair to sit in the center, with the boy and the other girl next to you..." She mutters.

"There's not much light for a photo?" I say, wearily.

"Oh enough!" She snaps, "There's enough light for us to see each other, is there not?"  
"Where's your camera?" Clover asks.

She doesn't answer, but she takes a step back, as if to admire the shot. "Now please children, smile."

Clover glanced at the Satyr statue next to her. "That sure does look like Aunt Fiona..."

"Clover, look this was honey."

She still has no camera in her hands.

"Perry-" Andrew begins.

Something inside of me wanted to listen to Andrew, but the rest of me wanted to just sit there.

"I will just be a moment..." Aunty Em says, "I can't see at all in this cursed veil..."

"Perry, something's wrong!" Andrew says.

"Wrong?" Aunty Em says, reaching up to lift up her veil. "Not at all, child. What could be wrong?"

"That _is _Aunt Fiona!" Clove gasps.

"Look away from her!" Andrew shouts.

He whips his baseball bat from his back pocket and slips it on. He vanishes from next to me, but I feel an invisible hand push me from the bench – and the hand pushes Clover from the bench too.

I gazed at Aunty Em's sandalled feet, and I could hear Clover scuttling off in one direction, Andrew in the other. Suddenly I hear a weird, rasping sound from above me, and my eyes rose to Aunty Em's hands, which had turned gnarled and warty, with long, sharp talons for fingernails.

I nearly raised my gaze to her face, but Andrew screamed: "Perry, don't!"

Suddenly, the raspy sound above registers in my mind, and I recognize it. It's the sounds of a load angry hissing snakes. And it was coming from right where... right where Aunty Em's head was.

"Run!" Clover screams, and I hear the sound of scuffling gravel. Suddenly she screams "_Maia!_" And I realize that she's using the sneakers that Lucy gave me.

I tried to move, but I was captivated by Aunty Em's gnarled hands, and I tried to fight the trance that her voice had put me in.

"What a shame to destroy such a beautiful young face." She tells me. "Stay with me, Perry. All you have to do is _look up._"

My head twitches, but I manage to resist the urge to look at her, and instead I look at the round glass spheres that people hang in gardens – a gazing ball, I think. In one, I catch a glimpse of Aunty Em's reflection, and I notice all the writhing movements of her hair, and how her face was shimmering.

Suddenly it hit me.

Aunty Em.

Aunty 'M'.

How could I have been so dumb!

Think Perry, think! I tell myself. Even I know the myth of Medusa, so how did she die?  
But I can't think. I just can't.

All I can remember is that she was a sleep when Perseus killed her, but right now, she was more than awake. And if I wasn't careful, I'd end up with her claws raking down my face.

"The Grey-Eyed one did this to me, Perry." Medusa hisses, but it wasn't from the snakes. "Andrew's mother. The cursed Athena turned me from a beautiful woman – to _this_!"

"Don't listen to her!" Andrew shouts, from somewhere. "Just run, Perry!"

"Silence!" Medusa barks.

"You must see why I have to destroy the boy now Perry. He is my enemy's son. I shall crush him, and his statue to dust. But you, dear Perry, need not suffer."

"No." I mumbled, still trying to get my legs to respond.

"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "Do you not understand what awaits you in this foolish quest? What will happen when you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be much better off as a statue – much less pain."

"Perry!" Clover yells, and suddenly the air is filled with the sound of a 100kilo hummingbird. "Duck!"

I turned around to watch Clover flying towards me in the winged converse, holding a tree branch about the size of a baseball hat. Her eyes are glued shut, and her head twitching from side to side. The stupid Goat Girl was navigating from ears and nose.

"Duck!" She yelled again. "I'll get her!"

This somehow managed to get my legs to respond to me – probably because, knowing Clover she'd miss Medusa by a landslide and end up knocking me out instead. I jumped out of her way just in time.

_Thwack!  
_ I thought it was the sound of Clover hitting a tree or a statue, but suddenly Medusa roared.

"You miserable Satyr!" She growls, "I'll add you to my collection!"  
"That was for Aunt Fiona!" Clover screams at her.

I scuttled away, and hid behind a statue as Clover flew down again, going in for another round.

I hear the sound of wood making contact with flesh and I know Clover is succeeding. "ARG!" Medusa screamed, her hair twisting and knotting itself.

"Perry!" Andrew's voice hisses beside me.  
I jump so much, I nearly knock the statue over. "Don't do that!" I gasp, clutching my chest.

He takes off his Yankees cap and he reappears next to me. "You have to cut her head off."

"What?" I say, my voice deadly calm.

"You have to cut her head off." He repeats.  
"Are you crazy! Lets get out of here!"

"Medusa is a menace. She's evil. I'd kill her myself, but..." Andrew swallowed. "But you've got the better weapon! Besides, I'd never get close to her. She'd slice me to bits – because of my mother. You? You've got a chance."

"What!? I can't kill her!"

"You have to! Or do you want more innocent people getting turned into statues?!" Andrew points around. He grabs a sphere from next to him and stares at it. "Hmm... A polished shield would be better. The convexity will cause some distortion. The reflection's size should be off by a factor of-"

"Would you speak _English _already!"

"I am!" He snaps. He tosses me the ball. "Just look at her via the glass. Do not – and I repeat – do _not _look at her directly!"

"Hey guys!" Clover yelled from above us triumphantly. "I think she's unconscious!"  
Medusa roars.

"Maybe not." Clove whimpers. She went in for another pass with the tree branch.

"Hurry! Clovers got an awesome nose, but soon she'll crash."  
I know Andrew is right, so I grab Riptide from my pocket and I uncap it. I watch it grow from the small, cheap blue ballpoint pen, to my sliver-blue blade.

I gulp, and I begin to follow the hissing sounds from Medusa's hair. I keep my eyes locked on the glass ball in my hand, so I will only be able to see Medusa's reflection. Suddenly, I see her.

Clover goes in for another swing but the time she flies a little to low. Medusa grabs her stick and swings her around through the air, and straight into the arms of the statue of a grizzly bear. Clover squeaks. Medusa is about to lunge at her when I yell:  
"HEY!"

I walk forward to meet her, keeping my gaze fixed on the reflection. Medusa lets me advance.  
Ten metres.

Five metres.

I can now see the full reflection of her face now, surely it wasn't _that _disgusting – right?

"You wouldn't harm an old lady, Perry, I know you wouldn't." She smirked.

Suddenly she lunges at me, and instinctively, I raise my sword, and I look away. I hear a sickening _shlock _as I swing my sword – like the sound of a monster disintegrating. I feel a large, rounded object roll towards my feet, and I know what it is, as the dying snakes tug at my shoelaces.

"Well, you obviously don't know me." I mutter.

"Yuck. No, double yuck. No, _triple yuck!_" Clover groans, and I know that, even though she can't see it, she can probably hear it – or smell it.

Suddenly Andrew appears at my side, and he drapes Medusa's black veil over her head. Slowly he bends down and picks up the head, which is still oozing green.

"Are you okay?" He asks me, his voice slightly trembling.

I nod. "Why didn't the head... evaporate?"

"Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war. Just like your Minotaur horn. But just don't unwrap it. It can still petrify you."

I re-cap my sword as Clover comes stumbling over to us, clinging to her red flying shoes.

We all walk back into the warehouse and double wrap Medusa's head in some plastic bags we found. We placed it on the table where we ate lunch, and we just sit around it, to exhausted to move.

"So we have Athena to thank for this _lovely _monster?" I say after a while.

Andrew shoots me an irritated look. "_Actually _it was your father, Remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple and that's why Athena decided to turn Medusa into a monster – along with her two sisters who helped her enter the temple. They became the 3 Gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably remind her of him."

I feel my face flush red. "So now it's _my _fault we meet Medusa?"  
Andrew stiffened, and tried to impersonate me: "'It's just a photo Andrew, what harm can it do?'"  
"Forget it. You're impossible!"

"You're insufferable!"

"You're-"

"Hey!" Clover intercepted. "You guys are giving me a chronic headache, and Satyrs don't even get headaches! What are we even gonna do with the head?"

I stare at the crinkly white bags, with the words: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS! Printed on the side.

I found myself feeling seriously angry – not just with Andrew or his Mom, but with all the gods for this whole stinking quest. For getting us blown off the road and for getting us in two major fights in our first day.  
I push myself up and walk to Medusa's office. I search through the drawers until I find 20 dollars, a few golden drachmas, some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express and the address for the Underworld – who knows? We might need it at this rate.

I carry on looking until I find the right size shoebox, and I carry it back to the table. I place the head in the box and seal it off. On the label, I write the address for mount Olympus – yes I actually remembered something from Andrew's lessons.

_The Gods_

_Mount Olympus_

_600th floor,_

_Empire State Building_

_New York, NY_

_With best wishes,_

_PERRY JACKSON _

"They won't like that!" Clover cries. "They will think you're impertinent!"  
I shrug my shoulders, and I pour some golden drachmas into a pouch I also found in the office, and as soon as I close it, the box floated off the table and disappeared with a _pop._

"I guess I am impertinent." I say with a smirk.

I look at Andrew, waiting for him to criticize what I'd just done, but to my surprise he doesn't. He just seemed resigned to the fact that I have an amazing talent for annoying the gods.

"C'mon." He mutters. "We need a new plan."

**What did you think? Please review :)  
Thanks :)**


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

A poodle pays for my train fare

We weren't exactly happy campers that night, as we camped out under the stars.

We slept in a marshy clearing about 100 meters from the road, that looked recently used for a party. Junk was everywhere. From soda cans to sweet wrappers, pretty much most things littered everywhere we stepped. We had taken a small blanket each and plenty of food from Medusa's _lair, _and we wound the blankets tightly around ourselves. We didn't dare light a fire in case another monster tried to attack us – after all, we'd had enough 'excitement' for one day. We all decide it will be fair to sleep in shifts, and for some reason I volunteer to go first.

Clover flies gently up to a low branch of a tree and rests her head agaisnt it's rough bark, and stares at the night sky. Andrew curls up into a ball and as soon as his head hits the floor, he's out cold. I sit there for a while, waiting for them to go sleep, and after an hour, Clover continues so scuffle relentlessly on her branch.

"Go ahead and sleep." I say to her softly, "I'll wake you if anything, you know, happens. I promise."

She gives a slight nod, but she doesn't close her eyes. "This makes me sad." She says with a depressing sigh.

"What? That you signed up for this stupid, reckless, dumb, idiotic quest?" This time, it's my turn to sigh. What was I thinking, dragging them along on a certain death quest,

"No Perry, this!" She says, and she motions to all of the litter around me and Andrew.

"Oh." I say quietly, but Clover wasn't done there.

"And the sky, you can't even see the stars due to all of the pollution! Oh gods, this is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"I'm taking it that you're an environmentalist?"

"Perry, all satyrs are, but only a human wouldn't be. You're all clogging up this world like it's gonna last forever but it's not, you know that? You pollute it so much that... oh don't worry, it's useless to lecture a human on the environment. Anyway, at this rate, i'll never find Pan."

"Pan?"

"Yeah. P-A-N. The great god Pan. God of the wilderness – the hero of all satyrs. Why do you think I want a searchers license for?"

Suddenly a warm breeze came rustling through the forest. It smelled of wild flowers, berries, clean grass and clean brooks – maybe things that once used to be here, and suddenly I find myself longing for that.

"Tell me about the search?" I ask.

"Well, uh, Pan disappeared 2000 years ago, and a sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice shouting: 'Tell them all that the great god Pan has died!' When the humans heard the news, they obviously believed it, and they've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. But for satyrs – including me – Pan was our lord, and we refused to believe it. He had protected us and the wild places of earth, and we couldn't _afford _to lose him. We refused to believe that he had just _died_! So in every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge themselves and their lives to finding and saving Pan. They search the earth. Exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he his hidden and wake him from his sleep."

"And you wanna be a Searcher? THAT'S AWESOME!"

"My whole family has been Searchers. My mom, my dad, my aunty..."

"Sorry about that..." I say sheepishly.

"She knew the risks. So did the rest of them. But I'm determined to be the first satyr to come back alive."

"Wait! Back up! First satyr to come back _alive_!"

"No-one has ever come back. Once they set out, they're never seen again."

"Not one satyr is 2000 years?!"

"Nope." She says, popping the 'p'.

"Any your parents? You have no idea..."

"None."

"And you think that you'll be the first to find Pan, and the first to return?"  
"Don't sound so positive Perry!"

"Sorry." I groan.

"But remember, I have to believe it. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from going crazy in this polluted world – I have to believe that Pan can save us."

I look away from her and stare at the empty night sky. What is wrong with Clover? She's chasing an impossible dream. But am I any better? I've got to go find Zeus's lightning bolt, and I have no idea where to find it.

"Perry!" Clover gasps.

I look back at her. "What?!"  
"I know who's got the bolt!"

"This is no time to be playing jokes on me Clover!"  
"I'm serious Perry. Who would want a war between the gods?"

"Uh, I dunno?"

She sighs. "Hades! Duh!"

"And how are we gonna find him? I mean, what chance do we have against a god, and where exactly is the Underworld..."

Then I realize exactly where it is. "DoA Recording Studios!"

"What?" Clover says, staring at me.

"That's where the Underworld is! But where's DoA?"

"Hollywood..." Andrew murmurs in his sleep.

"Honestly Perry, I have no clue what chance we have against him but Andrew was telling me-"

"Yeah, he'll have something planned out. I forgot." I snap.

"Don't be so hard on him Perry, after all he's a good person, he even forgave me..."

"For what? Forgave you for what?"

Clover brakes my gaze and starts playing on her reed pipes.

"Wait a minute! Your first job was five years ago. Andrew's been at camp for five years...He wasn't... I mean, your first assignment that went wrong-"

"I don't wanna talk about it Perry!" Clover snaps, her voice quivering like she's going to cry. "But as I was saying, Andrew was telling me that something seems wrong with this quest."  
"Duh, i'm being blamed for stealing a lightning bolt!"

"No Perry, something different. The Fur- the Kindly Ones were sorta holding back. Like Mrs Cane at Nancy, why did she wait so long to kill you?"

"Hey, I'm not complaining!"

"Then on the bus," Clover continues, pretending to not hear me "They just weren't as aggressive as they could've been."

"They seemed pretty aggressive to me!"

"They were screeching at us 'Where is it!? Where!'" Clover says, shaking her head.

"Well, not trying to sound self-centered but, they must've been asking about me!?"

"Maybe," She sighs, "but Andrew and I both got the feeling that they weren't asking about a person – more an object."

"But that doesn't make any sense!"

"I know."

I found myself thinking about what Medusa had said: I was being used by the gods – I was their little pawn. And worst of all: what laid ahead of me was worse than petrification.

"Clover?"  
"Yeah?"  
"I haven't been honest with you. I didn't do on this quest to find the master bolt – I only agreed to do this to prove myself. To prove to myself that I'm not worthless, that there is something in my life that's got worth."

"And you're sure that's it? Because I can tell that you want to impress your father. He decided to claim you as his daughter, and now you feel the need to prove yourself worthy to him – to prove yourself a true 'Child of the Big Three'."

I was taken back by what she'd just said. My father had abandoned my mother, and never once helped me or her. He didn't care about me – and I felt the same way towards him. And I told Clover exactly this.

"Look Perry, I'm not as brave as you, or as smart as Andrew, but I am pretty good at reading emotions – it's a satyr thing. You're glad that your dad is really alive, and you feel great that he claimed you as his daughter. And you want to make him proud, that's why you mailed Medusa's head to Olympus – to show him your accomplishment."

"Well your emotion-radar must be wrong because I DON'T CARE WHAT HE THINKS!"  
"Of course Perry. You go to sleep, i'll take first watch."

Clover held her reed pipes to her lips and began to play a soft lullaby, and even though I wanted to argue with her, my eyes shut and I fell asleep.

In my dreams, I stood next to a dark pit and I was surrounded by grey mist that tugged at my clothes, telling me to go. But instead, I felt the need to walk right to the edge – and looking down made me dizzy.

The pit was so black I knew it was bottomless, but I knew that something evil was attempting to rise out of it.

_What a sweet little hero. _A cold voice sneers, its sound echoing off the pit's walls. _Too weak, too young, to naive, but you'll have to do. They have mislead you, dear. Barter with me and I will give you want you want._

A shimmering figure hovered over the point and I vaguely recognized it. Suddenly the shimmering died down to almost nothing and it hit me like a sack of bricks. My mother. The had my mother. Her face was twisted in pain – no agony, and her eyes pleaded with me, as if she could actually see me, and was trying to tell me to go, turn around and never come back.

I tried to call out, but my voice was jammed in my throat. I felt myself being pulled closer into the pit, but I stood my ground.

_Help me rise, girl. Bring me the bolt and help me strike a blow against the ridiculous gods!_

The mist around me changed until I recognized then as spirits and they tugged at me again. _Wake! Wake young hero!_

The force around me increased and tightened around my waist and I realized that it wasn't interested in pulling me in, it was trying to pull itself _out._

_Wake! _The spirits whispered. _Wake!_

I sat bolt upright, tears streaming down my face. My body still shaking from the dream.

"Well, Sleeping Beauty awakes." Andrew says, not looking round at me.

I wipe the tears from my face and shakily I say, "_So _original. I've never heard that one before. Anyway, how long was I out?"

"Long enough for me to make breakfast." He says, and he tosses me a bag of crisps. I catch it with ease and tuck in. "And Clover found a friend when she went exploring."

From beside me, Clover holds up a little ball of pink fluff. No, it's a pink poodle, and it began snapping at me.

"No, she's not."

I blinked rapidly. "Are you... are you talking to _that_?" I ask.

"_That _is our ticket west. Be nice to him."

At that, I cracked up laughing. "You can talk to animals?" I managed to choke out.

"Perry, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, meet Perry."

I looked at Andrew for a bit of support but he just suppressed a smirk.

"I am _not _saying hello to a _poodle_!"

"Perry! I said hello to the poodle, so you have to say hello to the poodle." Andrew sighed.

I said hello to the gods damn poodle.

Clover explained to me how she came across Gladiola in her walk through the forest, and how Gladiola had told her how he'd run away and his family was offering a $200 reward. He'd apparently also said that he didn't want to go back, but he'd be willing to do so to help Clover.

"And how exactly does he know this?" I ask.

"He read the signs – duh!"  
"Oh, how silly of me."

"So we turn in Gladiola and buy tickets to L.A. With the reward. Simple." Andrew says, sounding exactly how a son of Athena should.

I thought about my dream and that I might happen to me whilst we were in the west.

"No more buses?" I groan.

"Nope." He agreed, and he pointed to a train track. "That way. There's an Amtrack station about half a mile away, and if Gladiola is correct, the next train westbound leaves at noon."

**SO what did you think? Remember, the faster you review, the faster i update :)**


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

I jump from a national monument and become a known fugitive.

We spend about two days on that Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers and past farms. We weren't attacked once but believe me, I _did not _relax. I felt like we were being watched every second, and that someone – or s_omething – _was waiting for the right opportunity to slaughter me.

I tried to keep a low profile since the bus incident, because my face was plastered on the papers. My hair was in mid-swing, my eyes were wild and my sword was a metallic blue blur in my hands, so it could've been a crow bar or something like that. The article read:

_12 year old New Yorker, Perry Jackson, is seen here fleeing from the crime scene of where she attacked 3 elderly women. The bus exploded on east side New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. According to eyewitnesses, the girl may be traveling with two young teenage accomplices. _

"Don't worry," Andrew sighed, reading over my shoulder. "Mortal police could never find us." But he didn't sound sure.

For the rest of the journey, I either looked out of the windows, or paced up and down the train because I had a hard time sitting still. I saw some pretty mad stuff when I was looking out of the windows, I mean, once I watched a family of Centaurs galloping across a wheat field, wielding bows to probably get their lunch. The little boy centaur who looked to be about in 2nd grade, caught my eye and waved at me, and I waved back slightly. And another time, I swear I saw a huge golden cat run through the woods, and I could've sworn it was a lion, except that it was the size of a tank, it looked like it was pure – fuzzy – gold and that lions don't live wild in America. But before I could say anything, it leaped through the trees and was gone.

After that I went to sleep, but I woke up a shaking, quivering mess. Beside me, Clover was snoring loudly, and one of her fake feet had come off. After me and Andrew had struggled to put it back on before one of the mortal passengers noticed, he asked me a question.

"So who aren't you going to help? You talk in your sleep, and you said: 'No, i'm not gonna help you!'"

I was still pretty shaken up by the dream, but after a reluctant pause I told him.

"That doesn't sound like Hades," He said. "Hades is usually found in his throne room – and he _never _laughs."  
"But still, they had my mom!"  
"Perry, even if it was Hades that has your mom, you shouldn't barter with him. _Never _barter with the Lord of the Dead."

"But what if it was your dad, huh?!"

Andrew glared at me.

"Easy. I'd leave him to rot."

"That's harsh! You don't mean it!"

"Oh, I do. My dad doesn't want me, so why should I want him?"

"Because he's your dad!"

"What, like you and your dad?"

Ouch. That hurt. And Andrew could see that so he stopped arguing with me. "Look Perry, my dad doesn't want me now – and he never has. When I was born, the west winds carried me down from Olympus in a golden cradle, to my dad's doorstep. He asked my mom to take me back to Olympus to raise me, and she wasn't happy about that, after all she had favored him and blessed him with a child. So she told him that heroes were to be raised by their mortal parents. Ever since, I have pretty much been the worst burden on my fathers life. He got married to a mortal woman and had two '_normal_' mortal children with her – so I ran away when I was seven. Monsters kept attacking my family, and every time, my step-mom would yell at me and my dad would take her side, so one day I'd had enough, I packed my bags and left.

"But you couldn't have made it to Camp Half-Blood all by yourself!?"  
"I didn't. My mom guided me until I met some friends. They helped me reach Camp alive."

I wanted to ask more, but Andrews expression cut me off – he looked like he was drowning in sad memories.

Towards the end of our second day on the train, June 13 – eight days before the summer solstice – we past a load of hills and the Mississippi River, until we entered St. Louis. Out of my peripheral, I noticed Andrew craning his neck to look at the Gateway Arch.

"I wanna do that." He sighed.

"What?"

"Build something like that! Have you ever seen the Parthenon?!

"Yeah, but only in pictures."

"Well I'm going to see it someday. In person. I'm going to build the greatest monument the world has ever seen, something that will last thousands of years as a gift to the gods!"

I cracked up. "_You_? An architect?" I couldn't imagine Andrew sitting around all day drawing structures. After all, he's as ADHD as I am.

"I don't know why you find it funny _Perry_. But Athena expects her children to build and create things. Not destroy them. Unlike a certain god of _earthquakes _I could mention." He said slyly.

I started to get angry, and I noticed the Mississippi River getting choppier – and I think Andrew did too.

"I'm sorry. That was a tad mean."

"A _tad_? What kind of an apology is_that_?" I near-shouted, and the River rose noticeably, as if it was copying my emotions.

"Okay. I'm sorry Perry Jackson for being cruel about your father. It was horrible. Now _please _can you put the Mississippi down?"

I started at him, one eyebrow raised. What did he mean? I felt my anger melting, and suddenly I couldn't hear the choppiness of the river anymore.

"Couldn't we _try _to get along? After all, we're not our parents. Wasn't there anything they worked on together?"

Andrew stroked him chin thoughtfully. "Maybe... I know! The chariot! My mom made the chariot's body, and your dad made the horses. So they had to work together to make it complete."

"Then we _can _co-operate at the very least."

Andrew gazed longingly at the Arch as is disappeared behind a tall building. "I guess so." He said finally.

Finally we pulled into the station, and the intercom informed us that we had 3 hours before the train set off again for Denver. When the announcement was finished, Andrew grabbed both, mine and Clover's wrists and began dragging us off the train.

"Uh, where are we going?!" I yelled, trying to bat his hands off.

"Sightseeing. The Gateway Arch. This might be my only chance to ride to the top." He replied.

I wanted to say know, but I could tell it would do no good. Andrew was on a mission and what ever I said, he wouldn't listen.

"As long as there's a snack bar – without any monsters present hopefully." Clover whimpered.

The Arch was about a mile from the train station and luckily enough, later in the day the lines weren't to bad. We weaved our way through the underground museum, Andrew making us stop every 30 seconds as we past something that looked mildly interesting to him. But to me – and probably Clover – this place was living hell, well apart from Clover passing me jellybeans all the time.

"You smell anything?" I whispered to Clover, hoping that if she sensed a monster, we'd be able to get out before we were cut into ribbons.

"Underground. Just underground. And the underground smells like monsters – but it probably doesn't mean anything"  
"Well that's helpful."

"Sorry."

But personally, I thought I could sense something bad – like we shouldn't be here at all. We kept walking in a pack, and some how me and Clover managed to keep Andrew away from the exhibits long enough for us to make our way to the lifts. When we got there I knew I'd go mad if I had to go in one – they were tiny, and I absolutely _hated _tiny, confined spaces. They made me nuts. We all got pushed into a car with a rather plump lady and her Chihuahua. I guessed that is was an eye-seeing Chihuahua because none of the guards or staff said anything about it. It had a rhinestone collar, and it glared at me, like it wanted to bite my head off.

Finally when the elevator was full, we started going up, and since the path was a curve, my stomach was _not _happy about the ride – let me tell you.

"No parents?" The fat lady prompted us. And she said it like Medusa had. And I was about to spin her the same story when Andrew glared at me.

The fat lady had beady black eyes, pointed and horrid coffee stained teeth, a floppy denim hat and a denim over dress thing, and all that together made her look like an over grown, not-so-famous, member of a 70's girl band.

"No. They're downstairs. Our parents hate heights." Andrew said to her, before I could say anything.

"Oh. The poor, _poor _darlings."

"Now now sonny boy. Behave." The lady said to her dog as it suddenly growled at me.

"Sonny? Is that his name?" I asked her.

"Not at all." She said, and she smiled like it was the perfect answer.

At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded me of a tin can with a carpet. Hundreds of tiny windows covered the walls that over looked the city. It was an okay view I guess, but I hated it. I hated confined spaces, but this was worse – like, 200 meters-in-the-air worse. And believe me, I was ready go to.

Andrew kept on spouting facts about the structural support and blah-di-de-blah, but I was saved by a member of staff who said that that Arch's observation deck was closing in a couple minutes. I steered Clover and Andrew and shoved them into a lift, and was about to join them when I noticed that there was already 2 tourists in there.

No room for me.

Andrew kept on saying that he and Clover would get out and wait for me but I convinced them to go down now, and i'd catch the next elevator. They looked at me nervously, but they agreed, and I watched the elevator disappear from sight. I turned around, and the only people left on the deck were me and that lady with the Chihuahua and another family – oh and the member of staff. I smiled at the old lady and she flicked her forked tongue at me.

_Forked tongue?!  
_Suddenly her dog hissed and started barking madly at me. He jumped out of his owner arms, and the little girl with her family cooed.

"Look! A doggie! Look mummy!" She said, but her parents pulled her back.

The Chihuahua pulled back into lips into a gruesome smile and paced towards me. "Now it not the time, Son. But if you insist." The fat lady sighed.

"Did you just call that Chihuahua your _son?_" I asked her.

"_Chimera_ not Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."

She rolled up her sleeves, and I noticed her skin was green and scaly, and when I looked at her face - and _gods _I wish I didn't – her eyes were slitted like a reptile's and her teeth were pointy – like fangs.

The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark he grew. From the size of a Labrador to a Doberman, to a Lion and finally to a huge animal hybrid. It had the head of a lion with a blood caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail – oh, and did I mention it was so tall that its back was rubbing against the roof. The rhinestone collar still hung around its neck, and this time I could read clearly what it said – even with my dyslexia.

**CHIMERA – RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS – IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS – EXT. 954.**

Great. A fire-breathing, poisonous monster. Just what I needed.

I realized that I hadn't even uncapped my sword. My hands were shaking like crazy. I was about three meters away from the beast's bloody mouth, and I knew that once move from me, and i'd be dog chow. The snake lady made a hissing sound that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

"It's not often Lord Zeus himself allows me to test a hero with one of my own. Be honored Perry Jackson. For I am the great and powerful, Mother of all Monsters, Echidna!"

Well... she sounded like a movie villain. But the only thing I could think to say was: "That's an anteater, right?"

Her face turns so many shades of purple it'd unbelievable. "For _that _Perry Jackson you shall be destroyed by my son!"

The Chimera charged at me, faster than he should've been able to, but luckily for me, I managed to dodge his blow – thank the gods for monster training at camp. When I looked where I stood, I nearly choked. I was right next to the family and the staff, who were desperately trying to prize open the emergency entrance to no prevail. I couldn't let them get hurt. I pulled out riptide and uncapped it.

"Hey Chihuahua!" I yelled, trying to taunt him.

He turned to look at me and opened it mouth just as I swung my sword. Before I could register what was happening, a pulse of fire erupted from his gaping mouth. Straight at me. I dived through the explosion, but it was so hot, the hair on my arms was seared off. Where I was standing not a second ago, was a huge jagged, molten hole. Great. I just blow torched a national monument.

Riptide shimmered in my hands and I swung as the beast turned to face me once again. My blue blade made contact with the Chimera's neck – but that was my fatal mistake. My blade scraped agaisnt the dog collar harmlessly, and I tried to regain my balance from the over swing, but I was so worried about its mouth that I forgot it's tail. But I remembered quick enough when its spines bit into my calf.

I screamed, and my whole leg began to burn. I tried to thrust Riptide into the Chimera's mouth, but instead, the serpent tail wrapped around my ankles and pulled me off balance, and my blade fell right down the molten hole in the floor, and straight into the Mississippi. And it didn't matter that my blade would come back to me, because I'd be dead before it reached my pocket. I somehow managed to get to my feet again, but I knew I had lost. I could feel the deadly poison making its way through my blood stream into my vital organs. I started to back up the the now black hole, and the Chimera followed me, smoke billowing from its snarl.

"They don't make heroes like they used to, eh son?" Echidna cackled.

The Chimera growled, and it seem to be in no rush now that I was beaten. I glanced over to the family and the guard. The little girl was cowering behind her fathers legs. I couldn't just die. I had to protect these people. I tried to think – and that's hard enough as it is for me – but my brain was fuzzy. I was weaponless and defenceless, and I was facing a massive, fire-breathing monster and its mother. My whole body felt as if it was on fire – and I was scared. Like a pathetic little girl. I wanted to make a last stand, so I thought: If I died, wold the monsters leave the mortals alone – would they just go away? So I took a step closer to the hole. One more step and I'd be tumbling into the River.

"If you are a true daughter of the Sea God, prove yourself. Jump. You should not fear water – it is your element. Jump, Perry Jackson, retrieve your beloved sword. Prove your bloodline." Echidna sneered at me.

I stared at her. Even if I was a daughter of Poseidon, I would still died if I jumped. 1) I'd read somewhere that jumping into water from a great height was the same as jumping off a building onto concrete, 2) This was no sea. It was a river, far away from my dads domain.

The Chimera's mouth began to glow red, heating up for another impact.

"You have to faith." Snake Lady laughed. "You do not trust the gods, and I can't say I blame you. The gods are faithless – and the poison is in your heart."

She was right, I was dying. But I wasn't going to die like the pathetic little girl I was. I wa planning on dying a hero. I backed up towards the hole until my heels were hovering off the Arch. I looked down at the river, and remembered all the sweet things about my father – his glow when I was a baby, when he claimed me as his daughter. He must have cared for me, but this was fair from my father's land. This was the Mississippi River in the middle of the USA. There was no Poseidon here.

"Well I guess you're wrong." I said, my voice full of fake confidence, and I quietly pleaded "Father, if you do really care about me, help me"

I leant back and let myself fall through the jagged hole, just as the Chimera sent one last column of flame towards me.

My hair whipping around me, my clothes on fire and the poison in my heart, I plummeted towards the river below.

**What do you think? Be honest, and review because the faster you review, the faster i update :D**


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